Obama's Carceral Reform: Is It Real?
TRNN host and producer Eddie Conway answers Barack Obama‘s recent speech calling for changes in mass incarceration policies.
TRNN host and producer Eddie Conway answers Barack Obama‘s recent speech calling for changes in mass incarceration policies.
So Obama finally fakes like he’s interested in prison reform, 5 YRS after Michelle Alexander’s ‘The New Jim Crow’, & the Fed law that cut the crack to powder coke penalty disparity from 100 to 1 to ‘just’ 20 to 1. Yet when that law went into effect, Obama & his then AG Holder, went to court to KEEP folks locked-up who could have / should have gotten out based on the new law’s guide-lines! And Obama’s been notoriously stingy w Presidential pardons, which he could have used to release 100s if not thousands of non-violent convicts, especially those serving draconian sentences for non-violent petty drug [& other petty] beefs!!!.
– So ‘Con’-Currently Obama ‘progressive’ sycophant point-man Van Jones, is hooking-up w the KOCH BROS & NEWT GRINCH-WITCH over the issue of mass [Black] Incarceration. IMO this is like slave-owning Tom Jefferson’s ‘ironically’ proposed so-called ‘anti-slavery’ clause in the Declaration of Independence [slave-owner Jefferson’s real motive was to try to ‘indict’ the Brits re: slavery – IE: a cynical & hypocritical poly-trickal ploy]
FYI: The Koch Bros have been in Bed w ALEC for sometime. ALEC is responsible for writing many of the state laws that fueled the US’ mass Black incarceration regime. And IMO the Koch Bros are likely ‘well’ invested in private prison corps [the Koch Bros’ spokesman on DN! made this curious assertion: ‘Charles Koch and David Koch are Classical LIBERALS who believe in expansive individual liberties in the Bill of Rights and limited government.’ – see @ http://www.democracynow.org/2015/7/15... ].
-Then there’s thinly disguised racist Dixiecrat [now Nixon-Reagan Repug] Newt Grinch-witch’s history of working in bi-partisanship w Slick Willy in the 1990s to fuel the prison industrial complex via the ‘War on Drugs’, doubling-down on the 100 to 1 crack vs powder coke laws, 3 strikes laws, etc [all of which mainly snared Black & Brown Folk]… And lets not forgot how Grinch-witch teamed up again w Slick Willy for Welfare Deform -&- then again w Obama’s Sec of Ed Arne Duncan [along w Rev Al] for {mis}’Education [of the Negro] Deform’. Of course all of this worked / works synergistically to fuel the US mass imprisonment state. Also note the US’ modern mass Black Incarceration state, is a direct response to the Black Freedom struggle of the 1960s & 70s- Bro Eddie Conway is a living testament to that fact. [PS: This also explains why US inner-city schools are be gutted, along w their inner-city communities, &/or profitized- leading to the school to prison pipeline- which ‘liberal’ Dim Obama-Duncan’s RTTT in tandem w ‘compassionate conservative’ Bush Jr NCLB policies exacerbates!]
The ONE ex-prisoner on the above linked DN! show, talked about how much more humane the EU’s prison system is compared to the US’ [he recently visited a German prison]. When he told the head of that German prison that he spent 7 YRS in Solitary, the chief was flabbergasted! [FYI: Mr Conway’s ‘Angola-3′ BPP comrades spent as many as +40YRS in solitary]! Such treatment [= TORTURE] is virtually unheard of in Europe. But what was NOT discussed enough on this DN! show, is the long embedded RACIST Nature of the US Criminalize {in}’Justice’ system- including its prisons [half of US prisoners are Black & another 1/5th to 1/4th are Hispanic]. IMO This alone explains why the EU treats its prisoners so much more humanely than the US does.
So the question remains why is Obama & Van Jones NOW all of a sudden talking about this issue. And why are they teaming-up w the likes of the Koch Bros & Grinch-witch to supposedly address it!!! IMO after watching the Obama-Duncan ‘{neo}’Liberal’ Dims’ RTTT work in tandem w the Bush Jr [‘compassionate-conservative’] Repugs’ NCLB, in the name of {mis}’Education [of the Negro] Deform’ – Instinct tells me there’s likely some BS in this game!!!
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PS: We Know the ‘Liberal’ Koch Bros Certainly Got TONS of $$$, & Obama-Billary type ‘Liberal’ Corp DLC Dims, the NAACP & IMO even Van Jones type ‘progressives’, don’t mind ‘courting favor’ w the likes of Koch Bros & their ilk, to try to get their hands on some of that $$$!!!
The Koch Bros seem to be running a PR Offensive [scam?] re: the Black community, by throwing some of their $$$ to the NAACP, Historically Black Colleges, etc. So now they’ve hooked-up w the likes of Obama ‘progressive’ sycophant Van Jones & put on their ‘compassionate-conservative’ / classic ‘Liberal’ face re mass [Black] incarceration. Rich Elites ala the Koch Bros, ‘Wiz Kid’ Bill Gates & Their ILK- Know spreading several 1000$ here, a few 100,000$ there, a couple Million$ now & then, buys a ‘Whole Lotta LOVE’!!!
Also note this article @ AlterNet: ‘Exposing the Koch Brothers’ Stunning Hypocrisy on Criminal Justice Reform’ [@ http://www.alternet.org/print/election-2016/exposing-koch-brothers-stunning-hypocrisy-criminal-justice-reform ] Some key excerpts:} The report “The Koch Brothers’ Criminal Justice Pump-Fake,” by American Bridge 21st Century.., notes how their efforts to partner with left-leaning groups like the ACLU have led to a public relations bonanza eclipsing their deeper record of supporting politicans who have delivered—and stand by—their draconian crime policies. – “The Kochs’ criminal justice charade is just that — a public relations scam.”
The Kochs began donating to the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which represents defendants… And also saw that underwriting reform efforts by partnering with ‘liberal’ groups like the ACLU would lead to a PR bonanza…
The Kochs’ criminal justice hypocrisy shows as they continue to support a long line of Republicans whose policies have worsened the system they now say must be dismantled. That list includes 2016 presidential candidates WI Gov Scott Walker, FL ex-Gov. Jeb Bush & Louisiana Gov Bobby Jindal- along w governors Larry Hogan [MD], Susana Martinez [NM], Mike Pence [IN] & Doug Ducey [AZ]. All have enlarged or sustained their states’ prisoner populations.
There’s no better example of Koch hypocrisy on criminal justice reform than their support for Gov Scott Walker, who David Koch said in NYC in April should be the 2016 Republican presidential nominee… Walker has a record of supporting & shepherding into law numerous draconian prison policies that date back to the late 1990s.. – Laws that have expanded WI’s prison population & are partly responsible for the fact that WI’s prison budget outpaced higher education spending for the first time in state history in 2011.” While a state legislator, Walker “wrote or co-sponsored over 2 dozen bills limiting parole, increasing prison time for a variety of offenses, expanding the definition of crime, etc…”
Jeb Bush’s record as FL’s governor is not much better… As a candidate, he told the St. Petersburg Times he would “build more prisons & fill them w more prisoners.” Bush told the Orlando Sentinel, “You need to lock criminals up & be sure they serve at least 85% of their sentences… For juvenile offenders, you punish them first & worry about counseling them later…” – Later this summer, Jeb Bush will give the keynote address at the “Defending The American Dream” summit organized by Americans for Prosperity, the right-wing group founded and& funded by the Kochs.
PR Talk Versus Political Action: Koch Bros attny & spokesman Mark Holden told ‘Time’ in March- “there are no plans at the moment to increase the financial support for justice reform or form a new nonprofit devoted to the issue…” – Thus their gap between talk & action, between running PR campaigns that tout criminal justice reform yet not pressing their favored candidates & politicians to change their draconian stances on this issue, is hugely hypocritical… {
But of-course the Pro Obama Dims web-site AlterNet, spun this into a partisan issue, failing to criticize Obama’s & Dims’ duplicity on the issue of mass [Black] incarceration, & critiquing why Obama & his ‘progressive’ mouth-piece Van Jones have got in-bed w the likes of the Koch Bros & Newt Grinch-witch, as the Kochs run their PR Offensive [SCAM]!!!
PS: See BAR’s Bruce Dixon commentary on why Obama & Slick Willy, have chosen NOW to address &/or apologize for the issue of mass [Black] incarceration- @ http://blackagendareport.com/barack_n_bill_discover_mss_incarceration – Hint: Its all about shoring-up Billary’s creds w Black voters going into the 2016 POTUS race- ‘Why Bill Clinton’s Apology and Barack Obama’s Prison Drive-By, Token Clemencies Are Cynical Election Year Posturing.’